PH won’t go up ! What do I do ???

[Lucasuka5006011]

I’ve been trying to raise my PH to start adding coral ( trying to keep between 8.3-8.5) my ph wont go over 8 , no matter what I try it just won’t seem to go up , I’ve heard of using a ph buffer but hear it can crash my tank ( really don’t need that ) I can turn a airline outside so have been thinking of a CO2 scrubber , any Thoughts ? I have a reefer 170 roughly 45 gallon tank , I see the scrubber they have on BRS but it’s huge , do I need one that big ? What should I do ??

 

[Copingwithpods]

If your pH is at 8, don't worry about it, most people's tanks range between 7.8 and 8.2. Also depends what time of day you check it, it dips during the night and goes up by day. A pH of 8.5 is a little unrealistic unless you are willing to (through drastic measures) chase that number. You'll find most people here don't even know their tank pH because they just don't test for it. Keeping other parameters stable is much more important than chasing pH alone.

 

[Lucasuka5006011]

From what I’m saying it never goes over a 8 but never lower then a 7.9 as of recently , all other things in the tank are stable , my alk and calcium are good , mag is low but I haven’t started dosing yet Bc I don’t have coral as of yet , i just want to make sure everything is good before adding torches , so you think I should be good to add them ?

 

[Copingwithpods]

From what I’m saying it never goes over a 8 but never lower then a 7.9 as of recently , all other things in the tank are stable , my alk and calcium are good , mag is low but I haven’t started dosing yet Bc I don’t have coral as of yet , i just want to make sure everything is good before adding torches , so you think I should be good to add them ?

Yup you should be good to go. Don't worry about your pH that much it will go up and down on its own. Only worry when it is close to 7 flat. What did your other parameters come back at?

 

[Lucasuka5006011]

THis is what I’m getting as of now (12:20am)
Salinity is a little low ( 31.5 ) doing top offs with salt water to get it up to a 35 before adding the coral

 

[Copingwithpods]

Pretty normal looking parameters, like you stated there are things you can do to boost pH and stabilize it naturally, running the fuge at night, running an airline hose outside, just stay away from pH buffers.

 

[Lucasuka5006011]

I was thinking about a fuge but I’m not sure I have space for one , my sump is already pretty packed ( not much space I’m the sump on the 170 reefer ) if everything seems to be good I think I may just keep it as is like you said , I think the CO2 scrubber might be my best bet if the ph does begin to get low though , thank you for the help !

 

[Copingwithpods]

I was thinking about a fuge but I’m not sure I have space for one , my sump is already pretty packed ( not much space I’m the sump on the 170 reefer ) if everything seems to be good I think I may just keep it as is like you said , I think the CO2 scrubber might be my best bet if the ph does begin to get low though , thank you for the help !

No problem and like I said don't worry your pH swings are normal and nothing out of the ordinary.